Research rankings and new academic work on existential AI risk are changing how universities frame influence and investment. Poets & Quants highlighted the Financial Times research ranking that elevated Wharton, signaling a premium on practitioner impact and policy relevance. Separately, Stanford economists are modeling how much society should spend to mitigate low‑probability, high‑impact AI catastrophes—pushing universities to balance long‑term risk research with applied, high‑visibility projects. The juxtaposition underscores pressure on faculty and deans to prioritize both measurable influence and speculative, societally consequential inquiry.